Game card assembly

ABSTRACT

A game card assembly consisting of a plurality of superposed sheets which define shuttered windows wherein the shutters are individually movable between partially open and fully open positions. In their partially open positions respective items of information are displayed while in their fully open positions additional items which bear a relation to the first items are displayed.

limited States Patent 1 Spitzner May 15, 1973 [541 GAME CARD ASSEMBLY 2,778,642 1 1957 Moore et a1. ..273 |35 BC 2,453,265 11/1948 Robinson ..35/9 E [75 1 Invenwr' 3,085,353 4/1963 Archer .35/9 13 2,693,646 11 1954 H k' ..35 9E [73] Assignee: Regal Games Mfg., Co., Chicago, I aw ms 7 Primary Examiner-Delbert B. Lowe [22] Filed: Mar. 30, 1971 Att0rney-Norman H. Gerlach [21] Appl. No.: 129,402 [57] ABSTRACT A game card assembly consisting of a plurality of su- [52] US. Cl. ..35/9 E, 35l3z57glflgg/g p p sheets which define shuttered windows Int Cl A6 3/06 A63f 9/18 wherein the shutters are individually movable between Fie'ld 273/135 35/9 partially open and fully open positions. In their partially open positions respective items of information are displayed while in their fully open positions addi- [56] References Cited tional items which bear a relation to the first items are displayed. UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 Claim, 8 Drawing Figures 3,224,112 12/1965 Hanson ..273/l35 BC In Iheen' Family m Short Vowel 1..., in the it Fnmil PATENTED HAY 1 51973 I 1 ,H I

E Q a, 28 ,Q Q A i 42 42 I & m] c: c: 4* hut cut mat but foi L i 42 j 2 I :2 a "I! & :2 g ten men hen 26 dn pen V] 28 I I 1 r7 42 E E c: l 4 E 38 E I fit I 1 5 m P" 1-: q M? n hug l rug I I bug I I jug Short ($31 in theng Family FIG 6' INVENTOR.

E RICH A. .SP/TZNER GAME CARD ASSEMBLY The improved game card assembly comprising the present invention is designed for use primarily in connection with the playing of a game which is similar to Bingo" or Lotto, such game consisting essentially in the drawing of numbered disks, balls or the like from a bag or other container, and then covering or uncovering squares on a card in accordance with the numbers which are drawn. The present game card assembly is, however, useable, with or without modification as required, either in game or in non-competitive fashion, for example, as a mnemonic aid, for linguistic comparison purposes in the teaching of languages, for rote memorization, or for supplanting flash cards. Irrespective of the particular use to which the present game card assembly is put, the essential features thereof always remain the same. Stated otherwise the present game card assembly, although thus designated throughout this specification, is not necessarily used for competitive game playing by two or more individuals, the novelty of the invention resides not in the manner in which the game card assembly is used, but rather in its structural make-up, i.e., in the manner in which certain cardboard sheets of which it is comprised are assembled together to define shuttered data-revealing windows and also to afford convenient manipulation of the shutters for such windows.

The object of the present invention is to provide a game board assembly which embodies the hereinbefore described characteristics and is not only of new and improved design or construction but is capable of being produced at a low cost.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from a consideration or reading of the following detailed description.

The invention consists in the several novel features which are hereinafter described and are more particularly defined by the claims at the conclusion hereof.

In the accompanying single sheet of drawings forming a part of this specification, one illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front plan of the game card assembly embodying the invention, portions of the various cardboard sheets of the assembly being broken away in the interests of clarity;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 with the data or information card being shown by dotted lines as being partially displaced from its sheath;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view showing a limited portion of the outer windowed title sheet which is employed in connection with the game card assembly constituting the invention, the view being taken in the vicinity of one of the shuttered windows;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view similar to FIG. 3 but showing the underlying portion of an intermediate windowed sheet;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view similar to FIGS. 2 and 3 but showing the underlying portion of a back windowed sheet;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of one of the window shutters;

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a right angle transverse sectional view taken on the line 88 of FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and in particular to FIG. 1, briefly the game card assembly constituting the present invention involves in its general organization a composite, multi-layer sheath 10 (see FIG. 2) for the selective and slidab'le reception therein of a series of data or information cards, only one of which is illustrated herein and it is designated by the reference numeral 12.

The sheath 10 is comprised of three contiguous die cut cardboard sheets 14, 16 and 18 which together define a composite front wall for the sheath, an uncut backing sheet 20 which defines a rear wall for the sheath, and a marginal spacer frame 22 which is interposed between the sheet 18 and the backing sheet 20. The frame 22 separates the three-sheet front wall from the backing sheet and thus defines a pocket 24 (see FIG. 2) within which the data card 12 is slidable for insertion and removal purposes.

The three die cut cardboard sheets 1d, 16 and 18 are formed with a plurality of vertically spaced horizontal series of registering openings which define composite windows 26 through which data that is printed on the data card 12 may be viewed when the card is fully received within the pocket 24. Individual, vertically slidable opaque shutters 28 (see FIG. 6) are movable within these windows between raised and lowered positions. In their raised positions, the shutters reveal all of the information which is carried on the data sheet, while in their lowered positions they reveal only partial data information as will be described presently.

Additional composite unshuttered window openings 30 are formed in the contiguous cardboard sheets 14, 16 and 18 at the right-hand side of the windows 26 as viewed in FIG. 2, and continuously reveal certain definitive information when the data card 12 is fully received in the pocket 24 in the sheath 10. The various windows 26 and 30 are disposed in vertical and horizontal rows, the windows 30 being disposed in the same vertical row.

Considering the sheath 10 in greater detail, the three contiguous cardboard sheets 14, 16 and 18 are of rectangular design and are of the same size. These sheets may be secured together in any suitable manner as, for example, by the use of an adhesive. The sheet 14 constitutes an outer title sheet on which various information such as the trade name of the game card assembly or suggested rules concerning its use may be printed. This sheet is provided'with an arrangement of vertical and horizontal rows of die cut openings 32 (see FIG. 3), each opening being generally rectangular but having an arched upper edge 34.

The sheet 16 is disposed directly behind the outer or front sheet 14, constitutes an intermediate guide sheet, and is provided with openings 36 which are of generally rectangular design and have an over-all width slightly greater than that of the openings 32 in the sheet 14. The lower region of each opening 36 is of reduced dimension, thus presenting a pair of upwardly facing stop shoulders 38, the function of which will be set forth hereafter.

The sheet 18 constitutes an inner sheet for the multilayer front wall of the sheath l0 and is provided with openings 40 which are identical in size and configuration to the openings 32 in the front sheet I4.

In the assembled sheath 10, the various openings 32, 36 and 40 are in register with one another, the upper region of the openings 36 overhanging the upper edges of the openings 32 and 40 inasmuch as these openings 36 are somewhat taller or higher than the openings 32 and 40. The lower edges of the three openings are in accurate register with one another.

The shutters 28 are in the form of rectangular sheets of stiff opaque plastic material and they have at the bottom portions thereof raised finger catches 42 by means of which they may be manipulated by sliding them up or down. Each shutter 28 fits within a respective or associated window opening 36 as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 4 and is coplanar with the sheet 16. Since the width of the openings 36 is slightly greater than the width of the openings 32 and 40, the side edges of the shutters 28 are confined in guideways which are established by the sheets 14 and 18. The shoulders 38 limit the downward movement of the shutters 28 and the latter are limited to a sliding movement between the upper position which is illustrated by one shutter in the vicinity of the data designation quit, and the lowered position which is illustrated by all of the other shutters.

The card-receiving pocket 24 exists by reason of the marginal spacer frame 22 which is interposed between the sheets 18 and 20. It is of narrow C-shape outline and extends around three marginal side regions of the sheet 18 and the backing sheet 20. The spacer frame 22 is secured in position by any suitable adhesive material. As shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings, the spacer frame 22 consists of an upper leg 44, a lower leg 46 and an interconnecting part 48, the upper leg being considerably wider than the lower leg and affording greater rigidity to the game card assembly as a whole in the upper region thereof for card-suspension purposes in a classroom for example. The pocket 24 which is defined by the upper and lower legs 44 and 46 and the interconnecting part 48 of the spacer frame 22 is the same in height as the data sheet 12 and, consequently, when the data sheet is in place within the pocket it is held against vertical displacement to the end that the data thereon is maintained in register with the windows in the sheets 14, 16 and 18. The open side of the spacer frame 22 forms a combined entrance and exit whereby the data card 12 may be inserted into and removed from the pocket 24.

It will be understood that the data card 12 will have various items of information printed thereon for register with the windows 26 and 30 when the card is in its home position within the pocket 24. Exemplary of such data, and considering only one window 26, is a caption such as the word lake (see lower portion of sheet 12 in FIG. 1) which is permanently visible, and immediately above such caption is a shutter-exposable illustration of a body of water representing a lake. When the associated shutter 28 is slid downwards into its lower position against the adjacent stop shoulders 38, only the caption (the word lake) is visible, the illustration being concealed beneath the opaque shutter. Raising of said shutter by means of the finger catch 42 exposes both data items. The information or data card 12 may also have definitive data printed thereon for permanent exposure and visibility through the windows 30, such data defining some common characteristic which is associated with the printed data appearing in the same row.

As previously stated, the specific nature of the data items which appear on the data card 12 may vary widely, depending upon the particular use to which the game card assembly is put, i.e., whether it is used in competitive game playing as in the case of a Bingo or Lotto game, in non-competitive linguistic or other data comparison procedures, or simply as a mnemonic aid. It is contemplated that for different playing procedures, different data cards 12 may be printed, the data on any given card being positioned for accurate register with the various windows 26 and 30 when such card is fully received in the pocket 24 within the sheath 10. In order to facilitate card removal and substitution, finger notches which are collectively designated by the reference numeral 50 are cut in the sheets 14, 16, 18 and 20 inwardly from the right-hand entrance rim of the pocket 24 as viewed in FIG. 1.

The invention is not to be limited to the exact arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawings or described in this specification as various changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, only insofar as the invention is particularly pointed out in the accompanying claim is the same to be limited.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A game card assembly comprising a card sheath having spaced apart front and rear walls which, in part, define an internal card-receiving pocket, and a data card having groups of printed data thereon and slidably and removably receivable in said pocket, said front wall of the assembly being ofa composite nature and including three sheets secured together and consisting of an outer front sheet, an inner sheet, and an intermediate sheet, said rear wall consisting of a backing sheet, all of said sheets being of substantially the same configuration and of substantially identical longitudinal and transverse dimensions, a generally C-shaped spacer frame interposed between said inner sheet and the backing sheet, extending along three marginal edge regions thereof and, in combination with said front and rear walls, defining said pocket, said front wall being formed with a plurality of rectangular windows therein through which respective data groups on the data card are visible, the windows being established by the provision of respective registering rectangular openings in the front, inner and intermediate sheets, the opening in the intermediate sheet having an over-all transverse width which is greater than the transverse width of the openings in the front and inner sheets and having a lower region which is of reduced width so as to define a pair of stop shoulders, and an opaque rectangular shutter slidable in each window, lying in the plane of said intermediate sheet, overlying said rear wall, having its side margins slidably confined between said front and inner sheets, and movable between a first position wherein the associated data group is fully visible through the window, and a second position wherein it engages the associated stop shoulders so that a limited portion of said data group is covered by said shutter while the rest of the data group remains visible, and the longitudinal extent of the openings in the front and inner sheets is shorter than the longitudinal extent of the openings in the intermediate sheet whereby, in the first position of the shutters, their upper margins project between the front and inner sheets. 

1. A game card assembly comprising a card sheath having spaced apart front and rear walls which, in part, define an internal card-receiving pocket, and a data card having groups of printed data thereon and slidably and removably receivable in said pocket, said front wall of the assembly being of a composite nature and including three sheets secured together and consisting of an outer front sheet, an inner sheet, and an intermediate sheet, said rear wall consisting of a backing sheet, all of said sheets being of substantially the same configuration and of substantially identical longitudinal and transverse dimensions, a generally C-shaped spacer frame interposed between said inner sheet and the backing sheet, extending along three marginal edge regions thereof and, in combination with said front and rear walls, defining said pocket, said front wall being formed with a plurality of rectangular windows therein through which respective data groups on the data card are visible, the windows being established by the provision of respective registering rectangular openings in the front, inner and intermediate sheets, the opening in the intermediate sheet having an over-all transverse width which is greater than the transverse width of the openings in the front and inner sheets and having a lower region which is of reduced width so as to define a pair of stop shoulders, and an opaque rectangular shutter slidable in each window, lying in the plane of said intermediate sheet, overlying said rear wall, having its side margins slidably confined between said front and inner sheets, and movable between a first position wherein the associated data group is fully visible through the window, and a second position wherein it engages the associated stop shoulders so that a limited portion of said data group is covered by said shutter while the rest of the data group remains visible, and the longitudinal extent of the openings in the front and inner sheets is shorter than the longitudinal extent of the openings in the intermediate sheet whereby, in the first position of the shutters, their upper margins project between the front and inner sheets. 